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Mustangs Explode Out of the Starting Gate

August 19, 2010

The 2010 DeSoto County high school football season debuted Thursday as the Center Hill Mustangs hosted the Tishomingo County Braves. Center Hill raced to a 14-0 first-quarter lead, then continued the domination in a 38-0 rout.

Brandon Houston (6-1, 180, junior) displayed his acrobatic ability at the 3:30 mark of the opening stanza as he hauled in a 25-yard scoring pass. Sophomore Boone Frederick added the point-after for the 7-0 tally.

On the Braves’ first series after the Mustang score, a bobbled pitchout was snatched by Center Hill senior linebacker Caliph Muhammad, who raced the final 24 yards for the Mustangs’ second touchdown in a 15-second span. Frederick was again perfect on the PAT and Center Hill held a 14-0 advantage.

A 39-yard pass play from junior quarterback Tyler Brasel to junior tight end Landen Hartsoe helped set up the next Mustang score. With the ball at the Braves’ 19, Brasel connected with senior wide receiver Malique Sanford with 10:13 left in the half.

Frederick’s extra point gave Center Hill a 21-0 lead, completing the first-half scoring.

Unfortunately, the Mustangs struggled early in the third quarter.

After holding Tishomingo County on its opening drive, Center Hill promptly gave the ball right back to the Braves with a fumble on first down. Tishomingo County, however, returned the favor by fumbling the pigskin, with Mustang junior Aaron Dougher recovering the ball at the Center Hill 29.

Junior Richard Hampton, who carried much of the Mustangs’ ground game throughout the evening, tacked on 22 more yards as he raced to the end zone for the fourth touchdown of the game. Frederick tacked on the point-after, giving Center Hill a 28-0 advantage with 4:47 showing in the third quarter.

In the fourth period, Frederick added a field goal from the 19 to put the Mustangs up 31-0 with 11:07 remaining in the contest. Center Hill scored three more touchdowns in the final stanza, but only one of them – a 46-yard run by sophomore Jaylon Small with 1:09 remaining – counted as the Mustangs were flagged for penalties on the other two scores.

Following the game, head coach Pete Hurt said he was glad for the win, but saw room for improvement.

“First of all, I’m glad we won,” he observed. “It’s always good to get started off with a win.

“We played sloppy at times, especially in the second half,” Hurt continued. “We did some good things and we did some bad things.”

The Mustangs hit the road for the next two weeks, traveling to Southaven next Friday night (Aug. 27) and Booneville the following week (Sept. 3). Center Hill’s next home game is set for Sept. 10 as cross-county rival Horn Lake comes to Mustang Field.